It is impossible here to do more than refer to the essay of Kbster (Theol. Stud, und Krit. 1831, p. 40-114) on the strophes, or the parallelism of verses in He- brew poetry, in which he endeavors to show that the verses are subject to the same laws of symmetry as the verse-members, and that consequently Hebrew poetry is essentially strophical in character. Ewald's treatise requires more careful consideration ; but it. must be read itself, and a slight sketch only can here be given. Briefly thus: Verses are divided into verse-members in which the number of syllables is less restricted, as there is no syllable metre. A verse-member generally con- tains from seven to eight syllables. Two members, the rise and fall, are the fundamental constituents. Thus (Judg. v, 3) :
"Hear, ye kings ! give ear, ye princes ! I to Jehovah, I will sing."
To this all other modifications must be capable of being reduced. The variations which may take place may be either amplifications or continuations of the rhythm, or compositions in which a complete rhythm is made the half of a new compound, or we may have a diminution or enfeeblement of the original. To the two members correspond two thoughts which constitute the life of the verse, and each of these again may distribute itself. Gradations of symmetry are formed, 1. By the echo of the whole sentence, where the same sense which is given in the first member rises again in the second, in order to exhaust itself more thoroughly (Gen. iv, 23 ; Prov. i, 8). An important word of the first member of- ten reserves its force for the second, as in Psa. xx, 8; and sometimes in the second member a principal part of the sense of the first is further developed, as Psa. xlix, 5 [6].
2. When the thought trails through two members of a verse, as in Psa. ex, 5, it gives rise to a less animated rhythm (comp. also cxli, 10). 3. Two sentences may be brought together as protasis and apodosis, or simply to form one complex thought; the external harmony may be dispensed with, but the harmony of thought re- mains. This may be called the intermediate rhythm. The forms of structure assumed by the verse are many. (1.) There is the single member, which occurs at the commencement of a series in Psa. xviii, 2; xxiii, 1; at the end of a series in Exod. xv, 18; Psa. xcii, 9; and in the middle, after a short pause, in Psa. xxix, 7. (2.) The bimembral verse is most frequently found, consisting of two members of nearly equal weight. (3.) Verses of more than two members are formed either by increasing the number of members from two to three, so that the complete fall may be reserved for the third, all three possessing the same power; or by combining four mem- bers two and two, as in Psa. xviii, 7; xxviii, 1.
The varieties of this structure of verse are too nu- merous to be recounted, and the laws of rhythm in Hebrew poetry are so free that of necessity the va- rieties of verse -structure must be manifold. The gnomic or sententious rhythm, Ewald remarks, is the one which is perfectly symmetrical. Two members of seven or eight syllables, corresponding to each other as rise and fall, contain a thesis and antithesis, a subject and its image. This is the constant form of genuine gnomic sentences of the best period. Those of a later date have many members or trail themselves through many verses. The animation of the lyrical rhythm makes it break through all such restraints, and leads to an amplification or reduplication of the normal form ; or the passionate rapidity of the thoughts may disturb the simple concord of the members, so that the unequal structure of verse intrudes with all its varieties. To show how impossible it is to attempt a classification of verse uttered under such circumstances, it will be only necessary to quote Ewald's own words: "All these varieties of rhythm, however, exert a perfectly free influence upon every lyrical song, just according as it suits the mood of the moment to vary the simple rhythm. The most beautiful songs of the flourishing period of poetry allow, in fact, the verse of many mem- bers to predominate whenever the diction rises with any sublimity ; nevertheless, the standard rhythm still returns in each when the diction flags, and the different kinds of the more complex rhythm are employed with equal freedom and ease of variation, just as they sev- erally accord with the fluctuating hues of the mood of emotion and of the sense of the diction. The late alphabetical songs are the first in which the fixed choice of a particular versification — a choice, too, made with designed art — establishes itself firmly, and main- tains itself symmetrically throughout all the verses" (Dichter d. A Iten Bundes, i, 83 ; transl. in Kitto's Journal, i, 318). It may, however, be generally observed that the older rhythms are the most animated, as if accom- panied by the hands and feet of the singer (Numb, xxi ; Exod. xv ; Judg. v), and that in the time of David the rhythm had attained its most perfect development. By the end of the 8th century B.C. the decay of versi- fication begins, and to this period belong the artificial forms of verse.